Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Beautiful color with an amazing head that lasted through the entire beer. Now the smell...a combination of socks that have been worn for three months straight and extremely bitter hops. The taste was not that far off. I had high hopes for this collaboration, but it feel disappointingly short. (293 characters)

Pours a lovely golden color, an impressive half a finger length head dissipates into a swirly lace that retains throughout. Impressive malty, fruity and gentle hops aroma. Taste is quite malty sweet with hints of caramel. Taste also has lots of fruit flavors particularly apple. Balanced by hops. It is a full bodied, syrupy and almost chewy feel. I had it with lunch and imagine it would go great with most meals.Another delightful and outstanding brew from Dogfish Head! (473 characters)

"Rhizing Bines is a collaborative IPA using the best of both coasts: Carolina-grown red fife wheat and Dogfish Head's continual-hopping from the East and Sierra Nevada's estate-grown caramel malt and Torpedo dry-hopping from the west." Brewed in the style of an American Imperial Pale Ale with two experimental hops, Bravo and #644. A one-off collaboration between Dogfish head and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, this beer was released in early 2013 and available in 750 ml. bottles.

Poured from a 750 ml. bottle to a Sierra Nevada tulip glass. Served above 46º Fahrenheit.

(Smell) Hop aromas of tropical fruit and pineapple with undertones of floral herbal notes over a light cracker and pale malt body with a touch of grainy caramel sweetness. Potency is moderate. 3.75

(Taste) Despite the clear aroma, the flavor of this beer has tanked significantly. Grainy pale and caramel malt body up front with slightly metallic and medicinal undertones are joined in the finish by a musty, peppery puff of hop flavor. The flavor did not hold up well. 2.75

(Mouthfeel) Texture is slick, light, slightly grainy. Carbonation is bold and spritely forming a crisp, zippy mouthfeel. Body is medium+ for the style, medium+ overall. Balance is slightly bitter over sweet. The alcohol presence is moderate and some oxidation has occurred, if not entirely due to the age of this beer. 3.25

(Overall) Don't forget about your IPAs, otherwise you might not like them as much as you had hoped. From what remains of Rhizing Bines, the malt profile is nice and light allowing for the hop profile to shine, but unfortunately I was late for the show, so there's not much to comment on in that factor. I found it drinkable, but that's not the most promising comment coming from me. I hope to get to try this in a future reincarnation. 3.25

T: mild leafy, tea-like hop flavor and similar lightly-tannic bitterness up front... smooth, rounded, wort-ish malt in the middle... wondering how much the hops have tamed down over time... I do get the (honeydew) melon rind Sam mentions highlighting the edges... but this beer, though balanced, is mostly malt here with uncommon herbal hop flourishes... it's nice

M: relatively thickish, dextrinous body - but not crazy viscous or anything of the sort... reading now that it contains a portion of wheat, I'm wondering what % of the total bill and how much it plays into the texture - the hop resins could have some influence as well... in other words, this was not the least bit crisp or light

O: definitely something a bit different... the earthy, leafy flavors are something I really dig - in that respect, perhaps I could view this as sort of a creative variation on or rich, stronger version of a British bitter (1,445 characters)

A - A clear golden brown color with huge amounts of carbonation. Even a proper pour gives it a huge white foamy head.

S - The nose on this one hits you with a sweet, crisp, citrusy aroma. Good smell, but a little musty on the backend. That could be my fault; it was bottled on 1/29/13 and I drank it 4/13/13. So not the freshest IPA I've ever had, but it still smells great.

T - A lot of bitter hoppy notes. Then a huge caramel maltiness that settles on the tongue. Good taste, but nothing too significant.

M - A thin, bubbly body. Leaves behind a little bit of a thick coating in the mouth.

O - A nice and easy to drink imperial IPA. Overall a good beer, but I'm not sure if I'd buy it again. Definitely not disappointed, as I love almost all DFH brews, but this one should be a "try it once". (799 characters)

From notes. Poured into a tulip glass: thick white, foamy head over a light cloudy, amber liquid. Smells amazing. A perfect balance of hoppy goodness and sweet malts. Exactly how an IPA should smell. Equivalent to Pliny in that regard. Tastes wonderful. Perfect citrus hops; little to no pine, which I like. Very good balance of alcohol spice, hops, and malt that resulted in a very delightful and drinkable beer. Mouthfeel as balanced, smooth, and a bit sticky; sweet and bitter as it should be. Overall, it was a bit pricy but besides that a very good beverage that was wonderfully enjoyable to consume. (605 characters)

While not huge, there seems to be plenty on the way of hop flavors here that are well balanced by a creamy bready toasty malt flavor. Hops- seems as an earthy herbal flavor fades to dare I say tangerine or mandarin orange hop finish. Very nice.

This brew has a nice creamy like feel yet finishes light and dry with a well balanced hop bitterness.

Would love to get a freshy of this. Great experience, enjoyed very much. (707 characters)

Pours a very pretty golden copperish color with nice big frothy head. Aroma is a bit stale, not what I like from my IPA. Must be the wheat. Hops are there and slightly piney and a little floral. Flavor is very floral with some bitterness up front. A little candy sweetness fades into a mix of dry wheaty funk and light fruits (pear? White grape? Light to medium mouthfeel with light to medium carbonation. Decent beer at best, and I was hoping for more from this collab. (470 characters)

AleBorland83 was kind enough to bring this up to Brooklyn for my birthday straight from the source in Delaware. We opened it in early August and poured it into two tulip glasses. It poured an amber/orange color with a thick head. The beer smelt exactly like a typical IPA, not that that is a bad thing. Some floral notes but mostly citruses like lemon and even lime. The taste unfortunately was average. It was like a flavor was missing. Decent, almost like a different version on 60 Min but with a creamy taste. Some malt backbone I guess.Overall, I was wanting to love this beer from two great breweries but the beer was extremely tame. Decent, but expensive. (662 characters)

Finger plus of foam, frothy and dimpled, all kinds of bubble sizes yet dense overall, creamy white in color, excellent retention, the lacing is thick and covers the glass sides in sheets which pretty much refuse to budge. Faint dullness to the yellow to orange rust colored liquid, there’s some fine particulate floating about inside which may explain this, the bubbles are few and far between and tiny enough to perhaps miss, that said it does capture light within it well so there’s a warm glow. Thick and heavy nose dripping with pine sap, orange and grapefruit juice, molasses and caramelized brown sugar, peach, apricot to pineapple fruit and a substantial floral dimension, for interplay there’s a touch of pepper and lemongrass, clings more than extends. In the mouth it is full-bodied, sappy, viscous and resinous. Pine, molasses, caramel hard candy and challah bread combine with the more sweet than sour pink grapefruit, tangerine citrus for a friendly mouth entry. The carbonation tends to fluff and soften which takes some of the kick out of the pineapple, papaya, nectarine, peach fruit. Grassy but not green, the maltiness lacks clear character but anchors it in an undifferentiated, homogeneous fashion. Easy to drink even as it makes you think it is more complicated than it really is, this being part of the genius of Dogfish Head. (1,354 characters)

A: A cloudy orange color with a nice amount of off white head at the top that left a great amount lacing around the glass.

S: Very tropical nose on this one, lots of citrus, pineapple and other tropical fruit, slight notes of caramel.

T: Very much like the nose, a good amount of bitterness and warming from the malts and hops, a nice sweet taste on the tail end.

M: Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation, not to much though, a little sticky.

O:A Sweeter DIPA than I am normaly used to but not to bad, was very surprised by this beer because I was expecting A lot more flavor from these two brewerys joining together, this brew is missing something that I cant put a finger on. (692 characters)

750 ml bottle (1 pint 9.4 fl oz.) with bottled on date 01/28/2013 printed on the side. I wish I hadn't slept on trying this beer for almost 7 months, but oh well. Poured into a Miller Lite pint glass.

A - Aggressive pour yields three thick fingers of doughy off-white head on top of a bright coppery orange colored body. Nice bunch of sediment floating around. Nice head retention and some decent wispy lacing.

Overall, an inoffensive and drinkable DIPA, especially at 8.00% abv, but it is fairly tame and generic effort from Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. Definitely a tasty and delicious beer, and I'd say it has held up just fine, but it's probably not worth the $12.99 I paid for it. The nose was definitely better than the taste, but it would probably still be worthwhile to pick up a bottle if you haven't tried it yet.

From a properly chilled bottle: Poured with a massive, cream-colored, foamy,frothy head that lasts to the bottom of the glass and good lacing. Color is a clear amber with a few bubble trails. Aroma at first reminded me of oxidized hops, but then other qualities, such as caramel malt, spice, grass, & peppers, come through and round things out. Flavor's like nose, bitter is in front, fairly dry except in the finish where some residual sweetness lies; carbonic tang is just right. Body/carbonation are perfect for this brew. Finish is as stated above, has a bit of alcohol warmth, and has some length. This is a welcome reminder of more traditional American IPAs with a sense of balance. Very quaffable. (704 characters)

A: pours a light but deep golden yellow orange. Nice clarity. A thick head sits over the top of the liquid, though remaining for only a minute or so.

S: the smell is pretty light. The hops mostly smell of pine and earth, with only slight hints of grapefruit and also hemp.

T: spiciness hits tongue from the start- first the tip and center, then smoothly moving to the sides straight to the back at first gulp. A lovely and surprisingly elegant overall awakening of the taste buds. With the swallow, the spiciness mellows out to a gentle bitterness that turns only the slightest bit sweet at the end of the experience. The finish is almost creamy - almost. The taste of hemp arises as an aftertaste to the sip.

M: medium bodied and moderately carbonated. It stimulates the mouth evenly with each gulp, peaking and falling quickly after swallow.

O: in comparison to other double IPAs, this beer is certainly less aggressive than others. Though i appreciate it for this- and feel it has a lot going on that can be missed in some of the more aggressively hoppy competitors. As a beer, this brew is highly drinkable, balanced, and continuously entertaining in a friendly way- certainly enjoyable all by itself. (1,260 characters)

Tasted after a bottle pour into goblets--consumed over 40 minutes.Pours an exact auto-light amber that pales and becomes nearly translucent in white light. Just a fine haze remains. A puffy, fairly generous head fades fast, but leaves bubbly-plump lacing to linger.The nose is fresh and nicely balanced with pleasiong components. There's a pink rock candy essence right up front, and, overall a more bready air than I would have expected. Mild toasted pine, soft citrus, and a genuine note of spiced berry combine nicely. Some tropical fruits emerge with time.Unfortunately, the taste is a bit of a letdown after rolling out the tapestry of tempting smells. It's surprising how little hoptitude this brew has--honestly has flavor more suggestive of a blond lager than a pale ale, until the bitter aftertaste and more sprucy roundness lingers for the finish...and it warms up some more. The bready nose ushers forward a little grassy flavor, and an acetone scent combines with booze with higher temps. None of this is particularly compelling.The feel is pleasant and superior to the taste. Medium to thick in body with a nice buzz of carbonation.This is not a bad creation, and I did my best to let it be what it is, rather than be let down from a starting set of expectations. I'd have it again, but don't find its difference from the norm as exciting as others have. (1,372 characters)

Pours a clean deep yellow color with an off white head. In the aroma, a small presence of mellow hops. In the taste, mellow hops and a small presence of dryer citrus hops. A small hop bite and a medium to lighter bodied mouthfeel, with a small dry citrus note in the aftertaste. A nice beer, but mellow hops and nothing really stands out. (338 characters)

Bottled 1/23/13. Wish I hadn't sat on this one for almost 6 months. Golden hazy pour w/ a 2-3 finger creamy white head in an IPA friendly glass. Nose of light pine and malt. Carbonation is on point as the mouth feel is smooth and not at all sticky as sometimes is the case w/ double IPAs. Strong malt backbone keeps it from being overwhelmingly 'piney'. Very well balanced. Not the typical citrus you would expect, much more piney w/ a grapefruit, tart finish.

Sometimes collaborations feel more like marketing ploys, this one certainly isn't. Seek it out & give it a try. Not what you would expect from a double IPA - in a good way. (634 characters)

Poured into a pint glass and it shows a slightly hazy golden body with an off-white full foamy head. Appears medium-thin. I smell mostly bread and malts, but what little hoppage creeps through certainly seems non-descript to me, like a berry/ boozy Belgium type of scent. Going in for the sip I see the head remains creamy in appearance as it settles a bit. This beer has an interesting approach as far as the hops used; based on the variety as described on the bottle, I don't recall trying such hops before. They blend with the malts and the ale takes on its own character unlike any other DIPA I've tried, however nothing about the sum of its parts blows me away. It doesn't finish really dry, and the hops come across almost berry-like, near elixir-like (similar to how it smelled to me). It still reminds me of a Belgium style for some reason (like a wheaty tripel of some sort). The caramel malt flavor is there, and where Im reminded of red wine is where i think that caramel is coming across. I guess it's a nice idea for an experiment with east and west coast hops from the 2 brewerys involved. End impression is that the hops were soaked up by both the wheat and malts provided by each respective brewer, leaving the otherwise unique hops to be buried under the additional "specialty ingredients". I can dig it, but I'm not sure I'd seek it out again. (1,363 characters)

Pours with a large, healthy, off-white head that takes a while to cascade down, and leaves a strong lacing on the glass. Deep golden (nearly amber) color body with a fair/light amt of carbonation flowing up the middle.

Aromas are full of earth, wheat/bread, and a background of rich floral hops. Not your typical over-the-hop DIPA.

Mouthfeel is thick and rich - not unlike many in this style. Flavors feature floral hops, along with citrus quality ... oranges, mostly. Sweet bread. The caramel malt is big, and keeps this sweet and drinkable (not too bitter). The carbonation is nicely done, and keeps it from being to sticky.

A good, fun collaboration that represents from both coasts. Reminded me a bit of Myrcenary, w/out being quite as sweet and sticky. (856 characters)